"Foreman's work suffers from a basic confusion of purpose. While addressing the tortuous diplomatic and political exchanges between Britain and the rival American camps between 1861 and 1865, it also narrates the military course of the conflict" – the American civil war – "which has been better done by others." Max Hastings in the Sunday Times was unimpressed by Amanda Foreman's A World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided: "Because her canvas thus becomes so large, the book is exhaustingly long – 814 pages of narrative. It is a fine thing for an author to fall in love with her material, but an even finer one for a publisher's editor to persuade her when a moment comes to break the tryst." In the Sunday Telegraph, however, Raymond Seitz welcomed "a tour de force . . . 800 fluent pages that meld great events with colourful characters". Saul David, in the Literary Review, also called the book "a tour de force . . . Foreman can see the war from both perspectives and is the ideal guide for this fascinating tale of diplomatic intrigue and skulduggery. . . this is not a short book, yet the pace never flags as Foreman moves the narrative effortlessly from the killing fields of Antietam to the drawing rooms of London."

At least two star reviewers have passed judgement on Keith Richards's much-discussed Life, ghostwritten by James Fox. For Craig Brown in the Mail on Sunday, the "autobiography proves a bit of a slog, one description of being out of it on heroin (or, as he puts it in his unexpectedly arch, saloon-bar prose, 'consuming substances with more than usual dedication') being much like another . . . Though it is larded with the quaint rock'n'roll argot of a bygone age – 'every copper wanted to bust us' and the like – in key respects Keith Richards's Life most resembles the memoirs of a major-general, recalling, at interminable length, forgotten raids and fallen comrades . . . He is in love with the idea of himself as the lone commando, single-handedly taking on the enemy forces." Lynn Barber in the Sunday Times, however, warmed to a book "so densely packed with incident . . . He is loved by everyone, it seems, except perhaps Mick. Good old Keef! And good James Fox, too, for crafting this immensely readable book."

"Magnus Mills's unerringly sharp eye for human foibles combines with a dry, deadpan wit to create comic genius." Leyla Sanai in the Independent on Sunday was delighted with Screwtop Thompson, a collection of short stories: "The lesser space afforded by the short-story format for the buildup of Mills's deliciously dark satire is a loss, but his spare prose and the meaning between the lines . . . are still a pleasure to savour." According to Rebecca Nicholson in the Sunday Times, "Mills's third book of extremely short stories is another of the author's exercises in low-key charm." The author is "skilled at painting around events and forming the real points of interest out of gaps and absences, artfully making a focus out of what is not said. As the collection progresses, its humour evolves from a restrained arched eyebrow to a warm guffaw, and, although slight, there is much here that merits a return." For Clare Colvin in the Daily Mail, "Mills specialises in laconic tales that range from workaday to surrealism" although a "few, such as the story about police besieging the house of a sharpshooting mum, or the good cop/bad cop story, overstrain the surrealistic element".